Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is being used at an expanding rate by manufacturers, retailer, logistics providers, and other users to replace or supplement a variety of traditional systems. Most notably, RFID technology may be implemented as a part of a supply chain management system to facilitate tracking, securing, and managing of items from manufacturing to retail.
In essence, RFID works by enabling a wireless exchange of information between a tagged object and a reader/writer, which in turn allows a host to process the information associated with the tagged object. FIG. 1 shows one example of such an RFID system. Three components are included in this basic RFID system 100. First, one or more tags 102 or transponders may be deposited on an item to be tracked. The item may be any suitable item known to those skilled in the art upon which an RFID tag may be attached, such as retail merchandise. The tags 102 may vary in shapes, sizes, and materials to suit the conditions of the item. Each RFID tag 102 may include two components, a computer chip 106 and an antenna 108. Appropriate information associated with the tagged item, including, for example, item name, description, or any other suitable item-related information, may be stored on the computer chip 106 and/or a server away from the tag.
Depending on the application, the tags 102 may be passive, active, or battery assisted. Passive tags generally utilize the power derived from the signals sent by a reader to respond to the reader. Active tags power their transmissions with an attached battery, while battery-assisted tags use an attached battery to power chip electronics, but does not use the battery for transmission. While the less costly passive tags are most frequently used in connection with supply chain management systems, active tags play a major role in marking shipping contains etc. in the supply chain management systems.
Functionally, tags 102 may fall into two categories, read-only or read/write. Read-only tags are programmed with a fixed set of information during manufacturing, and this information cannot be altered at a later time. Read/write tags on the other hand allow writing and/or rewriting of its information by an authorized user. Some read/write tags may include a read-only portion in which certain information may be stored and protected while allowing other information stored in a writable portion to be modified. Some examples for modifying the read/write tags, for example, to effect tracking of a product from manufacturing to retail, will be discussed in more detail below.
One or more read/write devices or interrogators 110 may be used to communicate with the tags 102. The read/write device 110 may include an antenna 112, a transceiver 114, and any other suitable components for facilitating reading and writing to tags 102. Typically, to communicate with a particular tag or set of tags 102, the read/write device 110 sends out through transceiver 114 and antenna 112 an RF signal in the frequency to which the target tags 102 are tuned. In response to receiving the signal, the targeted tags 102 respond by transmitting at least a part of their stored data. Upon receiving the data transmitted by the tags 102, the reader/writer 110 decodes the data and may transfer the data to a host computer system 116 for processing. The reader/writer 110 may either be fix-positioned or portable and may be either wired or wireless.
An RFID tag often contains data in the form of an Electronic Product Code (EPC). The EPC is essentially a unique serial number that is assigned to the item to which the RFID tag is affixed or otherwise associated. The tag may also contain EPC-related information, i.e., any suitable information that has been associated with the item bearing an EPC.
An RFID system provides many advantages over traditional tracking and inventory systems that utilize code-based technologies (e.g., bar code). Most notably, RFID utilizes radio frequency for communication and therefore may communicate with multiple tags positioned out of sight. In addition, much more information may be stored on an RFID tag, which provides a broad range of opportunities for associating various information with the tracked items. The read/write tags have the added advantage of reusability and modifiability, which reduces replacement cost and allows more accurate and flexible association of information with the tracked items.
In view of the above advantages associated with RFID technology, many enterprises have developed applications for implementing RFID in their various operations. For example, RFID tags may be attached to individual products as they come off the production line at a manufacturer's factory. These tags may contain data such as the date of production, special product care instructions (i.e., a special temperature that the product is to be kept at), and/or any other suitable information that the manufacturer wishes to have associated with the product. The manufacturer may store the tag information in its own database. Scanning of the tags as the products leave the factory, for example, via a tag reader fixed to a door, may inform the manufacturer which products are no longer stored in the factory. This information may be used to update the manufacturer's database, which may in turn allow the manufacturer to monitor, manage, and/or optimize its business, for example, by using the data to assess whether it has been consistently shipping out the oldest products in accordance with its first-in-first-out (FIFO) policy.
This example illustrates one scenario in which RFID data collection, storage, and analysis may be helpful to a manufacturer, for example, for streamlining its operations. Many other scenarios exist where RFID data may be used to optimize, manage, and otherwise benefit an enterprise. Additionally, because today's businesses are interconnected with each other in a plethora of ways, it is quite probable that one enterprise's RFID data may also be very beneficial to other enterprises such as enterprises situated down the supply chain from the manufacturer.
In one particular scenario, an enterprise, acting in the role of a retailer that purchases from the above manufacturer, may wish to gain access to the manufacturer's stored RFID data, including production date and shipped date data. Using this data, the retailer may determine the best time to schedule its quarterly shipment from the manufacturer to ensure that the manufacturer will have enough products on hand to satisfy the retailer's needs.
In another scenario, the enterprise, in its retailer role, may wish to gain access to the manufacturer's stored RFID data, for example, with regard to the special condition that the products have been kept under (i.e., temperature for perishable food). Using this data, the retailer may determine whether an expiration date can be properly applied because the products have been kept according to the manufacturer's special instructions.
On the reverse side, the enterprise in the manufacturer role may wish to analyze the retailer's RFID data, for example, generated from sales made at the cash register, to infer how many products have been sold within a particular period. The manufacturer may use this data to adjust its production schedule to promptly satisfy reorder demands from the retailer.
These examples demonstrate, at a high level, some benefits of RFID data access both within and across enterprises in their various related roles. Many other scenarios exist in which data sharing among a plurality of users acting in a variety of roles within an enterprise and across multiple enterprises could be advantageous for everyone involved.
Many enterprises have realized the power of such data sharing, but few have made it a reality due to the obstacles associated with such sharing. A primary obstacle is an enterprise's concern over proper authorization of an enterprise and/or a particular user within an enterprise that accesses the data. For example, the enterprise acting in a retailer role in the above examples may wish the enterprise acting in a related manufacturer role to see how many of the manufacturer's products are left in the retailer's warehouse to enable the manufacturer to restock automatically. At the same time, the retailer may not wish the manufacturer to gain access to information about what other products are being stored in the retailer's warehouse or sold at its registers.
One way to avoid this problem is for the retailer to modify its database to prevent the manufacturer from seeing some specific groups of data. This approach may work if the sharing is only on a small scale between a limited number of enterprises. The approach is less desirable, however, if the number of enterprises sharing the data and the databases themselves are large because each sharer must be painstakingly assessed, prevented, or allowed to view specific data sets.
Another obstacle for sharing RFID data across enterprises is that data warehousing and data mining are performed very differently from one enterprise to another. It is not uncommon for two enterprises to differ in everything from the type of databases to the type of hardware to the type of network connections they use. Since different hardware and software rarely work together in a cohesive and smooth manner without considerable integration work, RFID data sharing can be difficult from a technical standpoint.
In view of the above, a need exists for an improved way of providing a sensor-related data (e.g., EPC/RFID data) sharing scheme so that enterprises participating in the data sharing scheme may gain access to sensor-related data collected and stored by other enterprises in a seamless fashion. An additional need exists for the data sharing scheme to provide a way to prevent an enterprise from accessing data that has been deemed inappropriate for that enterprise to access by another enterprise who owns the data. A further need exists for the data sharing scheme to maintain a set of consistent sharing rules that may be adopted by each of the participating enterprise to suit its particular sharing needs without having to make specific adjustments with regard to each outside enterprise that it wishes to share data with.